African Swine Fever
When a storm is brewing on the horizon, you don’t wait until it strikes to close all the open windows. You figure out which windows are open and start closing them one by one until the house is secure.
USDA announced its intent to designate Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands as a “protection zone,” a World Organization for Animal Health designation. Here’s what that means for the U.S. pork industry.
The global swine industry has changed dramatically in the past four decades. Experts say those changes will play an important role in our country’s fight to keep African swine fever out of the U.S.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Those words spoken by an ag instructor, inspired Rob Brenneman to chase after his dream to become a pig farmer even though he didn’t have a pig to his name when he started.
While there are lots of reasons to believe ASF in the Dominican Republic is not a sure sign it will penetrate the U.S. industry, still, everyone has become focused on it and how slippery it is to contain.
Efforts to control the feral pig population in Oklahoma are ahead of last year, USDA reports.
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will host African Swine Fever Action Week on September 13 to 17 featuring daily webinars to tackle the topic of ASF from all angles. Here’s how you can participate.
Reports of African swine fever outbreaks around the world are picking up. Bulgarian authorities reported an ASF outbreak on a commercial farm with 13,000 pigs in the central village of Apriltsi.
The Philippines’ agriculture ministry says active cases of African swine fever are declining and confined to less than 1% of the nearly 3,000 villages that recorded outbreaks since the first cases detected in 2019.
China’s sow herd declined for the first time in nearly two years, contracting 0.5% in July from the previous month, state media said, after a plunge in hog prices pushed many farmers to get rid of unproductive sows.
For years we watched as the ASF virus jumped from Africa into the Middle East, then into Europe and Russia, and most recently, into China and Southeast Asia. Almost everywhere it goes, ASF sets up shop permanently.
While the U.S. remains free of African swine fever, the recent announcement of ASF in the Dominican Republic underscores the importance of continued detection and biosecurity efforts to protect swine in this country.
Pork producers can rest assured that U.S. Customs and Border Protection ag inspectors have been and are continuing to focus “all hands on deck” to protect U.S. borders from foreign animal diseases. Here’s why.
A South Korea pig farm with 2,400 pigs confirmed an outbreak of African swine fever on Sunday. The country is on high alert to contain the spread of this deadly virus just three months after the latest confirmed case.
Do you know the signs of African swine fever? Whether it’s China, the Dominican Republic or elsewhere, ASF doesn’t always present itself with clear symptoms.
The number of dogs being imported into the U.S. for resale from countries affected by ASF is growing. Combine that with an increasing risk of foreign animal disease spread, and it’s a formula for potential disaster.
For the first time in 40 years, African swine fever has leapt back into the Americas. Here’s a look at the latest updates on ASF from the Swine Health Information Center.
Alabama hunters are now buying licenses to hunt feral pigs and coyotes at night in an effort by the state to try to control these destructive animals.
USMEF’s Dan Halstrom says that while the ASF findings are very concerning, the U.S. industry is well-prepared for these situations and extensive safeguards are in place to protect the health of the U.S. swine herd.
The Dominican Republic will slaughter tens of thousands of pigs after detecting outbreaks of African swine fever in 11 of the country’s 32 provinces.
Dominican Republic officials are proposing drastic measures to contain confirmed cases of ASF, including military help and culling animals. This marks the first time in 40 years ASF was detected in Western Hemisphere.
When outbreaks of animal disease strike, the news headlines can be awfully confusing for consumers. It’s no wonder reports of African swine fever in Germany have consumers buzzing with questions. Here’s how to help.
The USDA announced on July 28 that the Dominican Republic has confirmed cases of African swine fever (ASF). This is the first time ASF has been detected in the Western Hemisphere in decades.
Chinese farmer Cheng wades through knee-deep water, pulling dead pigs behind him one-by-one by a rope tied around their ankles as he lines up the bloated carcasses for disposal.
The U.S. is continuing to take steps to keep African swine fever out of the country. USDA recently announced that it has approved blood swabs and spots as official African swine fever (ASF) testing tissues.
German pig prices were unchanged this week despite the discovery of the disease African swine fever (ASF) in farm animals, German animal farmers’ association VEZG said.
China’s efforts to control African swine fever outbreaks among its pig herd remained complicated, with 11 outbreaks officially reported so far this year and new variants of the virus also present.
The first cases of African swine fever (ASF) have been confirmed in farm pigs in Germany, the country’s federal agriculture ministry said on July 16.
Is the U.S. pork industry becoming lax about biosecurity? “We’ve been able to stay free of African swine fever so far,” says Kansas State’s Cassandra Jones. “One of my concerns is if we can continue to do so.”
Export markets are starting to look weak, particularly exports to China, says Rob Murphy of J.S. Ferraro & Company. He shared his perspective on what’s ahead in the third quarter of 2021 during a recent webinar.